


Guard Your Heart

by BadDuckPuns



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Chapter one is a bit sad but it gets better I prommy (promise), F/M, Gen, Knight AU, Knights - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29455770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadDuckPuns/pseuds/BadDuckPuns
Summary: Her brow furrowed as she leaned back on her elbows against the railing of the bridge. The sun was still coming up behind her. She was looking out at the city. Not at him.A while passed. Ryuji looked out at the rising sun, not yet bright enough to hurt his eyes."What assignment are you hoping for?""Eh? Shit, I don't think I've got many options. I'm expecting to get shipped out someplace quiet. Protect a bunch a sheep-herders from goblins the rest of my life."She finally looked at him, her red eyes seeming to see through him."That's not what I asked. What do youwant, Ryuji?"Ryuji has been a city guard for the past five years, and that means he's due for a reassignment. Hopefully the memories of his time with Makoto in the capitol will be enough for him when he gets sent away.
Relationships: (future), Niijima Makoto/Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Guard Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to my friends Didi, for making a pass for grammar and helping me with the name, Codey, for giving me some important structural advice, and as always to the inimitable Kidd SinnohRemakes for being the best writing partner a gal could ask for. Love you all.  
> And now it's knight time babey.

_This business ain’t for the faint of heart  
Well I fell for the bullshit  
Then I started fallin’ apart.  
By the end of the summer  
I let it get the best of me.  
What a goddamn bummer.  
What a waste of my energy. ___

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Ryuji had come from nothing. His shithead father had abandoned his mom as soon as he found out she was pregnant. The only thing he'd ever given Ryuji was his last name, which Ryuji was at least able to leverage for a spot in the knight training program so he could provide for his mom. The knights weren't much different from the schools for poor kids he had attended before dropping out. Same shitty kids ribbing him like he was their friend, same shitty adults treating him like he was beneath them because he was a bastard, same grueling training day in and day out. At least he was working with his muscles instead of his brain now._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________It wasn't all bad. He got to send money back home to his mom, he got to defend his home from the monsters that roamed the outlying forests and plains, and he did make friends. Shiho was kind and funny, with a dorky laugh and muscles like nobody's business. It was a bittersweet moment when she got promoted to the magical monster defense force. She'd do well there, damn well, and he'd still see her on their rare days off and around the city, but he missed doing patrols with her, talking shit and making up stories about the people they passed in the street._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________There was the thief that always seemed to pop up on his patrols, too. Dark hair and eyes like cold steel that always managed to disarm him. He said his name was Ren, but Ryuji was pretty sure he was lying. They met when Ryuji caught him pick-pocketing people in the central square. When Ryuji confronted him, he tossed the (empty) wallet towards him. "Those people make more in a day than I'd make in a year with an honest job. I'm not robbing them anymore than they've already robbed me." There was an edge to his voice. Anger, refined to a sharp point. "Plus," he began again, that edge seemingly disarmed. "I thought you'd know something about doing what you have to for your family, eh, Sakamoto?"  
Ryuji stood there, stunned, as the thief scaled a wall. At the top, his head turned just enough to look back at Ryuji. With a small wave, he disappeared.  
Ryuji ignored him when he saw the thief picking pockets again._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________And then there was Makoto. Shit, what could he say about Makoto? She was the best damn knight in their unit. Whip-smart, and able to talk circles around any chauvinistic asshole that told her to get out of the knights watch and go into a more "suitable career". He couldn't imagine a more suitable career for her. She radiated a confident and caring energy that made it effortless for her to reach out to the citizens she served. He'd be damned if she didn't end up in the royal guard.  
And yet, in her more unguarded moments, shared over a late beer or an early sunrise, Ryuji could see a sadness in her. Not a weakness, never a weakness. But there was a wall she rarely let down, and behind it Ryuji knew that Makoto felt she wasn't good enough to serve her home. Ryuji didn't say anything about that look in her eyes. He just opened her another beer and leaned his leg into hers._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________So, yeah. Ryuji put on a smile, and he bore the pain for the small moments. For an unguarded moment with Makoto, for a frank conversation with a criminal, for laughing fit with Shiho, for an embrace with his mom. He held those moments in his heart as he got berated by his superior for fraternizing too much with his fellow knights, as he shattered his knee defending the gates from an ogre, as his mom couldn't look at him without crying when he came home on leave._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________But that was all past him. Ryuji had been a knight for five years. That meant it was time for reassignment. All knights got reassigned from the capitol after five years of service. Shiho had been reassigned the year before, and he'd missed her. Makoto had signed up the same year as him, so they were due to be assigned in the same ceremony. He was expecting to never see her again after tonight, where the reassigned would be given free reign of the barracks for a rager before they were shipped out all across the kingdom. Ryuji was likely to be sent out to some boring farming town, with no thieves and no other knights, and no Makoto. He'd be assigned monster patrol duty until he retired. Ryuji hoped he could get one, just one more of those unguarded moments with Makoto before they never saw each other again._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________It wasn't love. He couldn't let it be. He couldn't let himself love her if tonight was to be the last time they ever saw each other. She was destined for greatness, a job protecting people from more than goblin raiders. She couldn't afford to be tied to him, to be dragged down. But the way she looked at him in those unguarded moments sent a shiver down his spine._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He woke up early the day of the reassignment. Even though his leg had mostly healed, it always bothered him when he was nervous. Unable to fall back asleep, he got up and started the same circuit of the city he had made almost every day for five years, sans his armor this time. At the westmost bridge, facing the great gate out of the city, he was greeted by a familiar choppy brown pixie cut._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"Morning, Niijima."  
"Sakamoto. You're up early."  
"Eh, couldn't sleep. Leg was bothering me, so I thought I'd stretch it out a little before the ceremony."  
Her brow furrowed as she leaned back on her elbows against the railing of the bridge. The sun was still coming up behind her. She was looking out at the city. Not at him.  
A while passed. Ryuji looked out at the rising sun, not yet bright enough to hurt his eyes.  
"What assignment are you hoping for?"  
"Eh? Shit, I don't think I've got many options. I'm expecting to get shipped out someplace quiet. Protect a bunch a sheep-herders from goblins the rest of my life."  
She finally looked at him, her red eyes seeming to see through him.  
"That's not what I asked. What do you _want _, Ryuji?"  
He didn't have an answer. He opened his mouth to respond, then closed it again. Makoto stood up, turning towards town. In the brief instant he saw her face, she looked almost... sad?  
She left him there, trying to piece together his thoughts under the morning sun, until it was time to get dressed for the assignment ceremony.________________

____

____

______________They were organized into their partner pairs, so Ryuji was with Makoto. They stood together, stock still, as the ceremony began. A woman came out onto a stage in the town square, looking over their entire unit of knights as she began to read from a scroll. He mostly zoned out. Aside from Makoto, he didn't know anyone in his unit more than in passing. When the woman got to their pair, he started paying attention._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"Makoto Niijima." Makoto's shoulder tensed.  
"Royal guard duties. Assigned as personal guard to the princess." The tension eased, but didn't fade. Her face was stoic, betraying no emotion. He hoped she was happy. If nothing else, he was happy for her.  
Now it was his turn. He was sure he tensed in a manner similar to his partner (ex-partner, a voice in his head reminded him) when the woman called out "Ryuji Sakamoto."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Alright.  
Here it comes.  
The rest of his life in the middle of nowhere.  
He bumped his hand into Makoto's._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________"Royal guard duties. Assigned as personal guard to the princess."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______________What.  
Several people in his unit were looking at him, boggle-eyed.  
Makoto remained stoic._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________________________Him? A royal guard?  
The words fell out of his mouth before he could stop himself.  
"Forreal?!"_ _ _


End file.
